Brewed McQuakers Oatmeal Stout from Brewing Classic Styles on Thanksgiving Day. Sampled it last night and it tastes delish but at 1.022 (from 1.060) I'm wondering if it's done. I used Safale 4 and fermentation seemed good if not spectacular (versus the way it is with my ales when I use Safale 5 or make a starter with liquid yeast). It was initially in a closet at 60f but I moved it to a closet at 62.

I mashed at 154, per the recipe, and assume the intent of that is a creamy mouthfeel (check!) but wonder if 152 or lower would dry it out a little. I really like this style, so tips on optimum fermentations would be most welcome.

Was this all-grain? What's the grist like? Oats will add more unfermentables than an equivalent quantity of barley. Is there anything else (lactose, large amount of crystal malt) that would boost the FG?

At 9 days it's possible it isn't done yet. If you can I'd move it to ~70°F and rouse the yeast a few times over the next several days. Check your hydrometer calibration and temperature correction too.

Hi, Mine finished at 1.022 also and I checked for 3 days straight after a 14 day fermentation at about 68 degrees and it didn't move at all. There was a nice trub ring and a large yeast cake so I bottled today. It may just be done. I bottled it today so we will see what happens.

On brew day I hit all numbers right on target and had no hiccups/abnormalities. Certainly didn't underpitch with one sachet of yeast in 3 gal. BeerAlchemy predicts 1.015 SG, which I strongly suspect ain't gonna happen.

It's a bit sweet, but on the positive side, would lend itself to doctoring with coffee and/or vanilla at bottling time. I'm pondering making a different recipe next weekend and pitching on that yeast cake, but fermenting in a slightly warmer room.

That's not really out of line. Good comments so far: rouse, warm up a bit, see if it has any more to go. Give it another week on the yeast.

Mashing at 152 vs 154 isn't going to give you seven points worth of FG difference; I wouldn't really worry about that too much. It's a lot of oats; they're going to give you unfermentables.

Good ideas about enhancing it with other flavors, if those appeal to you. Founder's Breakfast Stout is a favorite; look at its profile.

If you find that your oatmeal stouts finish a bit sweet, you can do a few things in the recipe to balance it. Boost alcohol and/or roast to help provide a counterpoint. Try a scaled up version in the 8% range. Look at the profile for Bell's Double Cream Stout.

I've heard that S-04 doesn't do well with fermentation temps under about 64F, so that may have been part of the problem. Like others have said, warm it up a bit, rouse the yeast and you should be fine. Love me some oatmeal stout, gettin' to be about that time of the year to start drinking lots of those.

Update: even finishing higher than anticipated, or maybe because of it, this stout has turned out wonderful. A couple weeks in the bottle it had a very pronounced coffee flavor (which I actually liked; I had used a cold extract of fresh-ground, recently-roasted Peet's French Roast decaf) and the body wasn't quite there. Now the coffee is in the background and the mouthfeel is terrific. I may use a starter based on a liquid yeast next time just to see where it takes me, but I certainly would do this again with the dry yeast, high finishing gravity and all.

Thanks for the observation about the oats providing a lot of unfermentables--when adding oats I hadn't factored that in.